This section is intended to merely provide background for embodiments of the present invention and is not considered prior art in the claims.
With the development of mobile communication networks and the advance in terminal specifications, mobile communication terminals have become a necessity for modern people and have evolved into total entertainment equipment beyond typical simple communication devices or information providing devices.
Such mobile communication terminals have a function for performing short-range wireless communication, such as near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth, in addition to a communication function through mobile communication networks.
NFC has a short communication distance and requires a separate wireless communication chip. However, Bluetooth has a relatively long communication distance and most terminals are equipped with a Bluetooth communication function. Thus, recently, a beacon service using Bluetooth communication has attracted attention.
A beacon service denotes a service in which a beacon device installed in various places, such as a franchise store, according to a desired purpose transmits a beacon signal to a user terminal positioned within a certain coverage and connects to a user terminal that scans the beacon signal to provide a variety of information to the user terminal, for example, to provide information such as product information, discount coupons, etc. to a user terminal that has entered the store or to confirm the position of the user in the store to provide a location-based service.
In order to provide such a beacon service, beacon devices that transmit beacon signals should be installed in a service region at a certain distance. Furthermore, a beacon device transmits a beacon signal within certain coverage. The coverage in which the beacon device transmits the beacon signal is predetermined, and thus expansion of the coverage inevitably causes an increase in transmission power strength of the beacon device. However, as the transmission power strength of the beacon device increases, battery life of the beacon device may be reduced.